My thoughts on the Phillies season.

Countdown to the Playoffs, Game # 21: The Phils’ bats
continue to play as they give their ace, Roy Halladay, win
#18, as they defeat the Mets, 8-4.

With Jimmy Rollins being day-to-day because of his right leg being tight, the bats continue to hit as they cause damage to their rival to the north, the Mets, while giving Roy Halladay his eighteenth win, as they win, 8-4.

The Phils took the lead in the second as, with runners on the corners, and with one man out, Carlos Ruiz hits an RBI single, knocking in Jayson Werth, who had earlier singled, and then stopped at third on Raul Ibanez’s double, giving the Phils’ a 1-0 lead, while Ibanez, who had earlier doubled, went to third. The Phils then took a 2-0 lead as, with runners once again on the corners, and with still one man out, Ibanez crossed the plate on a Wilson Valdez double play, 4-3-6, as he got home before Ruiz was tagged out at second base for the inning’s final out. The Mets cut the Phils’ lead in the third as, with one man on, and with one out, Jose Reyes hits an RBI double, knocking in Jenrry Mejia, making it a 2-1 Phils’ lead. Two batters later, with a runner on third, and now with two men out, Carlos Beltran hits a two-run home run, his third home run of the year, knocking in Reyes, who had moved up to third on Angel Pagan’s ground out, 4-3, giving the Mets a 3-2 lead. The Phils tied the game up at three-all as, with one man out, Ryan Howard hits a solo home run, his twenty-ninth home run of the year, and the 251st home run of his career, tying him for third place on the all-time Phils’ home run list with Pat Burrell. Five batters later, the Phils took the lead as, with the bases loaded, via singles to Werth, Ruiz, sending Werth to second base, and an infield single by Valdez to third base, moving up both Werth and Ruiz, and with two men out, Halladay helped his own cause by hitting a two-run single, scoring both Werth and Ruiz, giving the Phils a 5-3 lead, while sending Valdez on to third. The next batter, Shane Victorino, made it a 6-3 Phils’ lead with an RBI single, scoring Valdez, while sending Halladay to second base. The Phils then added to their lead in the seventh as, with one man out, Chase Utley hits a solo home run, his thirteenth home run of the year, giving the Phils a 7-3 lead. Five batters later, with the bases once again loaded, via a double to Howard, Ibanez being intentionally walked, and then Ruiz being walked, moving both Howard and Ibanez up a base, and with two men out, Valdez was hit by the pitch, forcing in Howard, making it an 8-3 Phils’ lead, while sending Ibanez to third and Ruiz up to second base. The Mets then made it an 8-4 Phils’ lead in the eighth as, with a runner on second, and with two men out, David Wright hits an RBI single, scoring Ike Davis, who had earlier doubled. That would be the final score as Ryan Madson shut down the Mets in the ninth, ending the game by getting Reyes to fly out to center.

Roy Halladay gets the win as he pitches seven and two-thirds innings, giving up four runs on eight hits, while he strikes out five. His record is now 18-10 with a 2.44 ERA. Chad Durbin pitches a third of an inning, giving up a hit. Ryan Madson pitches a scoreless inning, giving up a hit. Jenrry Mejia took the lost as he lasted only four innings, giving up six runs on nine hits and a walk, while striking out two. His record is now 0-4 with a 4.91 ERA. Raul Valdes pitches two and a third innings, giving up two runs on three hits, while he strikes out three. Sean Green, Pat Misch, Elmer Dessens and Ryota Igarashi pitches two and two-thirds scoreless innings, giving up a hit (Dessens) and three walks (Green (2), Igarashi (1)), while striking out two (Misch and Igarashi one each) between them.

The Phils had thirteen hits, with Carlos Ruiz leading the team with three hits, all singles, as he knocks in a run, as he raised his batting average to .296. Shane Victorino, Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth followed with two hits each, with Victorino’s two hits being both singles, knocking in a run, while Howard’s two hits were a solo home run and a double, knocking in a run, and Werth’s two hits were singles. Chase Utley, Raul Ibanez, Wilson Valdez and Roy Halladay had the other four Phils’ hits, with Utley’s hit being a solo home run, Ibanez’s hit being a double, and Valdez and Halladay’s hits being singles, with Valdez knocking in a run as he was hit by a pitch, and Halladay knocking in two runs. The other Phil run came in on a doubleplay, with the runner scoring before the last out was recorded. The offensive is presently raking the ball and scoring runs. Hopefully it’ll continue today.

The Phils (82-60, 1st) continue their three-game series with the Mets (69-72, 4th) with an afternoon game that is being televised nationally on Fox, with the game starting at 4:05 pm Eastern at Citi Field. The Phils’ starter will be Kyle Kendrick (9-8, 4.89) while the Mets will counter with Mike Pelfrey (13-9, 3.96). The Phils will be going for their fifth straight win, while hoping to start pulling away from the second place Braves, who are presently playing the Cardinals in Atlanta.

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